You know the night is falling, and the music's calling, and we've got to get down to Tabtown ...
"I saw Corey Comperatore die right in front of us."
— Katie Pavlich Tonight (@KatiePavlichNN) May 2, 2026
Washington Examiner reporter @ZitoSalena reacts to a Manhattan Institute poll showing that 47% of democrats believe that the July 2024 assassination attempt on President Trump was orchestrated by his supporters to increase… pic.twitter.com/ASLG9hy7DC
… orchestrated by his supporters to increase sympathy for him.
Salena was alongside her daughter just "4 feet away" from the President.
Ed: This is insanity, especially in regard to Butler. As Salena points out, someone actually died in front of thousands of witnesses and hundreds of cameras. The Left wants to push these ludicrous conspiracy theories for at least two reasons. One is sheer TDS. The other is to let themselves off the hook for their existentialist demagoguery that drives these lunatics into action, now for the third time.
===
Dallas Morning News: U.S. airlines are rushing to help thousands of travelers who may be stranded after infamous budget carrier Spirit Airlines ceased operations after almost 34 years.
The budget airline, known for its bright yellow aircraft and bare bones fares, had been working through its second bankruptcy as losses mounted. In recent days it had made a desperate plea to the Trump administration for a bailout, but talks fell apart. ...
Florida-based Spirit’s shuttering means that DFW Airport suddenly loses more than 4,000 flights that Spirit was scheduled to operate through November. The airline had offered direct flights to global travel hubs like Chicago, Los Angeles and New York, while also offering direct flights to vacation destinations like Cancun.
Ed: One of my best friends at the time got stuck when Eastern Airlines collapsed. These airline failures have lots of secondary and tertiary effects, none of them good. That’s why politicians try to arrange bailouts rather than allow for the normal process of asset release in bankruptcy to correct the market and allow for more efficient use, but that is far better in the long run than the corporatism of bailouts.
===
You should get you another beer.
— Roger Baumgarten (@RogerBaumgarten) May 2, 2026
cc: @EdMorrissey @VodkaPundit @instapundit @KurtSchlichter @BillWhittle @TheBrancaShow @TwitchyTeam
Ed: The community note says it all. "Senator Warren previously helped block the merger of jetblue and spirit which would have resulted in a 5th major airline and more competition against major airlines." At the time, Warren bragged about blocking the merger as "a Biden win for flyers!" Maybe we should let the market work instead.
===
Dems: “No, you can’t end the racial gerrymander of Memphis. That’ll lead to less black representatives, you racist.”
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) May 2, 2026
Me: “But the current Dem rep there is a white dude and the GOP candidate is black.”
Dems: pic.twitter.com/xMhGiZhAFg
Ed: Tennessee has the easiest argument for the mid-cycle redistricting. The set-aside district hasn’t elected a black representative in 20 years. It’s also a pretty good argument for the hypocrisy of Democrats who are shrieking over LA v Callais; why didn’t they recruit another black candidate for this district after Harold Ford Jr retired?
===
i24, France: On Saturday morning, Mohammad Jafar Asadi, a senior figure in the Iranian military's central command, said "a renewed conflict between Iran and the United States is likely", in quotes published by Iran's Fars news agency. ...
The US military says its blockade of Iranian ports has stopped $6 billion in Iranian oil exports, while inflation in Iran, already high before the war, has surged past 50 percent.
"Everyone is trying to endure it, but... they are falling apart," 40-year-old Amir, a Tehran resident, told an AFP reporter based outside the country.
"We still have not seen much of the economic effects because everyone had a bit of savings. They had some gold and dollars for a rainy day. When they run out, things will change."
Ed: This is why I suspect the IRGC will let Trump off the War Powers Resolution hook and restart hot hostilities first. As the collapse comes, they will need to argue for their necessity as a defense against the enemies of the Iranian people, blah blah blah. Unless Ahmad Vahidi wants to pull an Assad and fly to Moscow ahead of a popular revolt, he has no other choice.
===
You realize this shows they are likely out of storage and now using these tankers to hold oil they have no place else to put.
— Jim Hanson (@JimHansonDC) May 2, 2026
Those tankers will just sit and generate no $$$ because the Big Beautiful Blockade owns the Gulf of Oman. https://t.co/VYKLw4WlSz
Ed: Yeah, that’s not a flex by the IRGC. That’s a risky method for storage. Those ships are less than reliable, and Iran is highly unlikely to send them to the open sea even after the blockade ends. That means they will have to offload the crude back into storage before loading them onto more reliable tankers. Kharg is not set up to receive oil, so that process itself will be an issue, and so would offloading from these tankers direct to other tankers. This is a desperate move that indicates that the IRGC has run out of better options.
===
NY Times: Key Republicans in Congress are growing impatient about the complex and costly conflict in the Middle East as the war reaches its 60-day mark, pivoting after weeks of deferring to President Trump to a more skeptical posture.
While Republican leaders continue to express strong backing for the operation, the shift could lay the groundwork for the G.O.P.-led Congress, which has ceded much of its power to Mr. Trump and declined to exercise any oversight of the war so far, to force a debate on the matter in the coming days and pressure the administration to set the conditions and timeline for a swift withdrawal. ...
The increasing nervousness among Republicans has coincided with a statutory deadline reached on Friday for the president to ask Congress for permission to continue the war, which he has declined to do. It also comes as concern about the cost of the conflict is rising and lawmakers are bracing to be asked to approve a request in the tens of billions of dollars or higher to pay for it.
Ed: Is this a fair picture of the GOP caucuses on Capitol Hill, or just of the clique around Thomas Massie and Rand Paul? I’m skeptical, but the midterms may be making some of these Republicans nervous. The problem is that the only way to properly end this is to get the uranium out of Iran, which will probably require the regime to collapse and the IRGC to die or go on the run. Vahidi may help Trump accelerate this process in the next few days. For now, though, Pete Hegseth’s fired-up engagement on the Hill likely has these Republicans considering the longer view, at least for now.
===
The NYT did extensive intvu w/ Tucker Carlson-& questions were legit & professional. In it, Tucker accused me of advocating for killing of children & civilians. Asked to respond, I sent the following. (In fairness, NYT couldn't use all), but here it is:
— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) May 2, 2026
“Poor Tucker needs help.…
“Poor Tucker needs help. He’s clearly circling the drain by saying something so outrageous. No sane person “advocates” for the murder of children or civilians. Even the allegation is sick and evil. Tucker apparently limits his compassion to the unfortunate souls who have died in Gaza as a result of the stubbornness of Hamas to release hostages and who murdered their own citizens and intentionally put them in front of military assets where they would be most likely to become victims of the war. One never hears Tucker lament the massacre and mutilation of 1200 women, babies, and elderly people butchered by Hamas on October 7 or the torture, rape and starvation of the 251 hostages taken and held by Hamas. I am heartbroken by the slaughter of innocent civilians wherever they are and whoever they are. Tucker’s irrational hatred of Jews in general and Israel in particular blinds him to the horrific savagery inflicted upon the victims of October 7, including the rape of women in front of their children, the beheading of babies in the presence of their mothers, or setting fire to elderly people who sat in wheelchairs and were burned alive, all of which were captured on video taken by Hamas terrorists who were so proud of their despicable acts that they wore Go-Pro cameras to record it as if they were taking movies of a dance recital. Tucker’s contempt of President Trump is just another instance in which the Tucker Carlson I once knew has become someone unrecognizable. I pray he finds himself and God. He has become a very angry and bitter man and it’s truly tragic to watch.”
Ed: Well put. John has a lot more to say and reveal about Tucker's NYT interview in this post.
===
Bill Glahn at Power Line: From the Minneapolis Star Tribune,
Don’t Minnesota my state: Land of 10,000 Lakes becomes a political punching bag.
The Star Tribune is completely baffled by this development, which they view as wholly underserved. The Star Tribune blames “conservative candidates” and Trump for the phenomenon.
The Star Tribune tracks down a political science professor who attributes the state’s unwanted status entirely to a Trump “grudge.”
No mention of the $10 billion (with a “b”) in welfare fraud, which led to a crackdown on illegal immigration, which revealed a metro region’s economy to be entirely dependent on illegal aliens’ labor and illegal aliens’ buying power, both enabled by massive social spending.
Ed: Believe it or not, when I lived in Minnesota (I left in mid-2021), it had a reputation for good government and clean politics. Then the progressive cranks and grievance hustlers took over the DFL starting about 20 years ago. The hard Left and its Twin Cities Academia base transformed it into a cautionary tale, as Bill calls it. I’d call it a disgrace, and Tim Walz is a big part of the collapse.
===
Trump on seizing Iranian ship:
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) May 2, 2026
"In one shot, into the engine room, blew up the engine room, the ship stopped. We landed on top of it, took over the ship. Took over the cargo, took over the oil. It's a very profitable business. We're sort of like pirates." pic.twitter.com/6Y9MpXzLAq
Ed. Arrrrrrrrrgh. I know that sounds cool to say, but we are not like pirates. We are like the US Navy in the war against the Barbary pirates. Still, it’s good that Trump is highlighting the effectiveness of the blockade, and that helps to keep support up for the mission.
===
NY Post: Some say AI is going to deliver us to utopia. Others say it’s going to take over the world and hasten the extinction of humanity.
But professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds argues the biggest threat posed by AI will be its seductive capabilities.
“You don’t have to have a 12,000 IQ or a 1,200 IQ or even 120 IQ to fool most human beings,” Reynolds told The Post. ...
In his new book “Seductive AI,” to be published May 5 by Encounter Books, the University of Tennessee law professor argues that AI can accomplish “soft oppression” through seduction — flattering us, telling us what we want to hear, and playing on our instincts to nudge us towards certain opinions or special interests.["]
Ed: Be sure to read it all, and preorder Glenn’s new book. Glenn has always been a cautious optimist on tech, so I am very curious to see his approach to the dangers and benefits of AI.
===
🔻Democrat Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner is lying. This far-left antisemite with the Nazi tattoo and Hamas support claims PTSD from the military made him a Jew-hater, rape apologist, and "Free Palestine" radical. False. His hate was on full display in his high school… https://t.co/qvtlunFIjA pic.twitter.com/1Dr5VOdSrY
— @XTexasGirlX (@XtexasgirlX) May 2, 2026
Ed: Unfortunately, that puts Platner in the mainstream of today’s Democrat Party.
===
I'll even answer Matt properly: No, I don't think Platner is secretly a Nazi. I think that anyone who trusts someone who had a Nazi tattoo and kissed Hamas ass on Reddit to be a politician motivated by an actual desire to make things better is properly an idiot.
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) May 2, 2026
===
I think it is time we consider the possibility that Democrats are so thoroughly convinced that Trump supporters are actual Nazis that they see Graham Platner's Nazi tattoo as being an electoral advantage.
— Cynical Publius (@CynicalPublius) May 2, 2026
Ed: I’m wondering if the conversation went more like this: “We need a socialist to appeal to the Left and a nationalist to appeal to the Right. Do we have any national-socialists around? Hey …. "
Editor's note: If we thought our job in pushing back against the Academia/media/Democrat censorship complex was over with the election, think again. This is going to be a long fight. If you're digging these Final Word posts and want to join the conversation in the comments -- and support independent platforms -- why not join our VIP Membership program? Choose VIP to support Hot Air and access our premium content, VIP Gold to extend your access to all Townhall Media platforms and participate in this show, or VIP Platinum to get access to even more content and discounts on merchandise. Use the promo code FIGHT to join or to upgrade your existing membership level today, and get 60% off!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member